So you feel bad because your toddler had nightmares after watching that 9 p.m. episode of SpongeBob SquarePants where Squidward’s heart was cut open and blood came squirting out?

Agreed, not a good parenting move. If the lesson hasn’t been learned the hard way, perhaps this story about a new study in Pediatrics will serve as a good reminder.

The study of more than 600 kids ages 3 to 5 found that while watching TV in general during the day doesn’t contribute to sleep problems, viewing violent content does. For that matter, any TV viewing after 7 p.m. was linked with increased sleep problems, regardless of whether the shows were violent or not. (And, yes, animated shows like SpongeBob can be violent in the minds of little ones.)

Another interesting finding in the study: Kids with TVs in their bedrooms averaged an additional 15 minutes of evening use each night and 12 more minutes of violent content viewed during the day.

In addition to having more screen time and more disruptive sleep, kids with TVs in their rooms were also more tired during the day.

Research from the Kaiser Family Foundation finds that one-third of kids ages 0 to 6 have a TV in their bedroom and that number skyrockets to more than 70 percent for 8 to 18 year olds.

We parents have our reasons for doing so. Maybe it's to keep the video games (and all the accompanying paraphernalia) out of the family room/common space. (Guilty!) Maybe it's so that kids can watch "their" shows while us parents watch "ours." (Read: Can't. Take. The. Wiggles. Any. More.)

What do you think? Do you let your kids have TVs in their bedroom, and if so, what age do you think it's appropriate?

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By Benjamin Wagner

Mister Rogers summered in a modest, gray, shake-shingled house on the edge of Nantucket. My mother rented a tiny cottage next door. So Mister Rogers really was my neighbor.

I first met Mister Rogers on Sept. 4, 2001 -- my thirtieth birthday.

I was a bit lost at the time. My parent's divorce and chronic relocation left me a serial monogamist (but commitment phobe) hooked on rock ’n’ roll fantasy.  Everything would be fine, I reasoned, if I could get famous for expressing my dysfunction; it seemed to work for everyone in Rolling Stone magazine and on MTV.

So I'd moved to NYC some five years prior to either write for or be on the cover of RS. It ended up the latter (sort of), though I quickly parlayed my online Weezer reviews and Jewel interviews into a producer gig at MTV News while hocking CDs at performances in rock venues from Boston to Raleigh-Durham.

I was ambivalent about all of it, seeking something meaningful amid a fast-paced, short-attention-span mediaverse.

Which is roughly when Mister Rogers stepped toward the back porch and asked, "Is the birthday boy here?"

The next day, Mister Rogers invited us over for lemonade. I played him a song. And then he showed me around his so-called Crooked House, a sparse, almost-ascetic cottage.  Mister Rogers was so real, so authentic, and so disarming, that I felt right at home.  We sat a while in his study, out back behind the garage. There was a desk, a computer and a small piano, all with a view over the pale green grassy dunes to Madaket Bay beyond. He asked me something no one ever asks. “Tell me about your father,” he said. “Your mother doesn’t speak about him.” And so I told him about my parents’ divorce, and how ugly it was, and almost cried right there on the spot; I felt safe, and comfortable.

He said, simply, “That must have been very difficult for you, Benjamin.”

Then he rolled his chair over to the piano and began playing: first, the theme from his show: “It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood,” he sang with a little more swing than on television, smiling. And then he sang “Happy Birthday” to me. Even now, years later, it still seems like a dream.

Later, we stood on the back porch in the Indian summer sun staring out at the water. He asked me about my job at MTV. He said he was concerned about modern pop culture. “I feel so strongly," he said, "That deep and simple is far more essential than shallow and complex."

The next summer, I told Mister Rogers how often I thought about the phrase, "deep and simple." 

"Spread the message," he said.  "Spread the message."

I was immediately transformed by meeting Mister Rogers. My music changed first. I dropped the poses, stopped trying to sound hip, cool or current, and began relinquishing the death grip on my rock ’n’ roll fantasy. I embraced what came naturally, the singer/songwriter stuff I grew up on: contemplative, acoustic considerations of love lost and found.

After his death in February 2003, Mister Rogers' challenge to spread the  "deep and simple" message became too compelling to ignore. I enlisted my brother and sought out the friends and neighbors who knew Mister Rogers best to ask them what he meant by it.

In the five years it took to bring our independent documentary, "Mister Rogers & Me," to the screen (we premiered at The Nantucket Film Festival this June, and won a Crystal Heart Award at The Heartland Film Festival), I came to realize a deep, simple and essential truth: One changes the world one relationship at a time.  And -- as Mister Rogers so often said -- "There is something of yourself that you leave at every meeting with another person."

And so I took my own small measures. In 2007, I founded "A Holiday Benefit," an annual compilation CD and show featuring local singer/songwriters and benefiting 826NYC, a youth literacy advocacy group in Brooklyn.  We've raised over $10,000 since then, and will be releasing our fourth compilation on Dec. 16.

http://www.benjaminwagner.com

And when my daughter was born (just 10 days after the film's premiere), I buckled down on my most essential production of all (well second-most; impossible to top my gorgeous daughter), a new CD full of songs I wanted Maggie to grow up singing.  "Forever Young" is a lifetime in the making, not only because the cover songs ("Rainbow Connection," "You Are My Sunshine," "Moon River") are deep, simple and essential, or even because I enlisted my dearest, most-talented musician friends to help make it.

I would never have made "Forever Young" without Mister Rogers. In his absolute authenticity, he gave me the courage to be myself, to be sincere -- corny even.  With one simple question, he helped me begin to get over my parents’ divorce.  And so when my wife tapped me on the shoulder after a show, I was able to turn to greet her with an open heart.  Five years later, when I sing "Golden Slumbers" or "You've Got a Friend" to our daughter, Maggie, I realize that my definition of rock ’n’ roll was askew to begin with.  Nothing's more rock ’n’ roll than love.  And there's no greater love than this.

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A new study is suggesting what many parents have been telling their kids for decades: too much television is bad for you. British researchers have found that more than two hours spent watching TV or playing video games could put your child at a greater risk of psychological problems. Regardless of age, sex or even if the child in question maintains an otherwise rigorous regimen of daily physical activity, the consequences of too much time in front of the screen can negatively affect that child’s mental well-being. Just last week, the Daily Mail reported a disturbing story of a child whose behavior changed radically after too much television. It's an all-too-familiar situation for many parents.

To combat the problem, Dr. Thomas N. Robinson of Stanford University School of Medicine recommends establishing a screen-time budget to reduce children's exposure and improve their health.

As any parent can tell you, budgeting a child’s TV time is a directive that will invariably be met with resistance. Parents, do you agree with the findings of this study? What steps do you take to limit your child’s TV time? What steps can you recommend to parents who might still be struggling? Share your stories in the comment section below.

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